How many houses did you offer on before you were accepted?

FupOff · 2022-04-19T09:17:25+00:00

I’m feeling quite despondent today. We made our 4th house offer last week after it went to best and finals as usual, to then get a call today to say it was ‘very close’ but a higher offer was accepted. The EA can’t divulge the winning offer but knowing it was close is frustrating. The house was on for 275, we originally offered 280 and increased to our best and final of 285. It was the perfect house for us and houses coming to market in our area is slow to say the least even in the run up to Easter. I’m just wondering if I am the only one? I feel like I will be private renting forever at this rate. Or maybe it’ll be 5th time lucky for us [sad]

dinkydino123 · 19/04/2022 10:24

We made offers on two houses and were outbid on both. We had an offer accepted on a third but then the sellers changed their minds and pulled out of the sale. For us it was fourth time lucky. Hang in there!

NorthSouthcatlady · 19/04/2022 10:27

So many! I’m struggling to count. I think we were 5th time lucky, lots of false starts and it took 21 months

lakeswimmer · 19/04/2022 10:33

No not the only one. We had an offer rejected last week. Offered £445k on an asking price of £400k. That's the second property we've failed to get.

We need something very specific in a rural area without much choice and I'm beginning to wonder if it's actually possible to buy in this market. We're competing with cash buyers wanting holiday homes. It's difficult not to feel despondent.

caringcarer · 19/04/2022 10:46

My son offered on four before securing one. All went to final and best offers. If a house was up for £75-£85k then he offered £85k but still got out bid. Then he decided to offer more so if up for £75- £85k he did final offer of £92k. He got offer accepted. When Building Society sent in valuer it was valued at £75. EA went back to vendor and got price reduced in line with valuation. That was second time that house had been valued by a BS and both times valued down to £75. Vendors decided to accept the £75k.

dubyalass · 19/04/2022 10:55

I've offered on three so far and been outbid on all. Offered around 5-10% over on each (and under on another that had been sat around for ages in a hot market). I'm in a good position although I need a mortgage, and I think I've been outbid by downsizing cash buyers in both cases.

Seeing another this afternoon, not in my preferred location but a good house. Again, offers over and already has a "good offer" but they need to sell first. No idea what to offer if I like it.

noscoobydoodle · 19/04/2022 11:21

We offered on 7 houses before we got the one we are currently buying. 5 went to best and final and we lost out to a higher bidder or cash buyer. The 6th and 7th just wanted more money (we offered asking price for both and they both had no other offers- one is still on the market and the other sellers are now staying put!). It was disheartening but we got there in the end!

JudyGemstone · 19/04/2022 11:22

I think 3rd time lucky for me. Mine wasn’t even the highest offer, just the most proceed-able.

The first time was devastating, after that I learned to treat it more detached and not get too emotionally involved.

gingerhills · 19/04/2022 11:23

Two that I remember. So we sold and moved into rented to be in a stronger position and got a much nicer house than either of the two that got away.

Whadda · 19/04/2022 11:24

4, if you include the house we wanted to bid on but were not allowed as “there are over 20 cash bidders currently bidding so the vendors have instructed us to not progress offers from mortgaged buyers”.

It’s a tough market.

Hostaswordwoman · 19/04/2022 11:28

Just one but no one else wanted it.

AllThingsServeTheBeam · 19/04/2022 11:29

Viewed 4. Offered on the 4th and got accepted on our counter offer. This was December 2019 though

Tothepoint99 · 19/04/2022 11:32

Can I offer advice on best and final?

Never go for a round number. Make it random. Like £300,555 or £325,123. It gives you such a better chance. Shows you are keen and if there are 2 offers at £300,500 you are highest. I advised someone to do this after researching for them how to win at Best and Final and they got the house.

Keep going!

UnnecessaryFennel · 19/04/2022 11:33

We were outbid on 4 last summer before getting the one we now live in...for £7k under asking price!

Bonkers market (seaside town, very popular with Londoners decamping to the coast to WFH) and the one we ended up buying was a compromise in many ways (not character, not period, 10 mins walk to beach instead of 5, etc). But now we're here we think we got an absolute bargain, so don't be too disheartened - the right house at the right price is out there.

xreadytoglow · 19/04/2022 11:53

We offered on 5 before we got ours. One house we even offered £15k over asking and still missed out! The market is absolutely crazy right now.

The only reason I think we finally got accepted for one is because it wasn't on Rightmove so I don't think a lot of people had seen it. There wasn't that usual 'viewings are full' or 'I've only got one left' etc when we called to view, and when we offered we were only up against one person instead of god knows how many. Try looking on other sites, we found ours on Zoopla.

Another thing to note, as someone else has mentioned, when you get the house valued when you apply for your mortgage, it will likely be de-valued by quite a bit (since offers are going crazy high right now). So if you REALLY like a house, add 20k on or however much more you think, because when it's valued or has a survey it'll come down anyway!

Makegoodchoices · 19/04/2022 11:59

We offered full asking price, had it accepted, paid for surveys and then they took it off the market.

Two others we were outbid and then got one, but had a chain problem that meant we lost out.

House buying is awful OP - you have my sympathies.

Original poster

FupOff · 19/04/2022 12:34

@Tothepoint99 thank you for this advice and I will definitely use this tactic in the future.

OP posts:

Scarecrowrowboat · 19/04/2022 12:54

One. Offered about 30k under asking and settled at 10k under but houses were moving a lot slower 5 years ago. Pretty much all the houses we were looking at estate agents indicated lower offers would still be welcomed.

Starseeking · 19/04/2022 13:05

I'm in the process of buying the second house I offered on. The only reason I got it is that I happened to catch the vendors with an unsolicited letter drop, the day after they had seen agents about putting it on the market.

I offered the full price the vendors indicated that they would be putting it on the market for, to remove it from going to the open market. Fingers crossed the surveyors confirm our agreed price, as I need a mortgage!

Alphabet1spaghetti2 · 19/04/2022 13:17

We offered in one and were accepted.
BUT! We looked for two years before even managing to get accepted for one viewing. We managed to actually get inside three houses and offered in one. Looked at hundreds without even getting a viewing, as viewings were all taken within what get like minutes of them getting to market.
It’s a ridiculous palaver.

FallopianTubeTrain · 19/04/2022 15:24

9 offers

4 of those were accepted (and all but 1 the seller withdrew after varying lengths of time when they couldn't find an onwards purchase), 1 offer rejected and we didn't want to up our offer so walked away, and 4 we never even heard back on to say we'd been rejected despite being way over asking price and chain free.

It all worked out in the end, been in the new place 6 months now and can't believe we are lucky enough to have found this wonderful house and have it as our home.

Keep going. You'll get there!

Notmyyearthisyear · 19/04/2022 21:55

@xreadytoglow

We offered on 5 before we got ours. One house we even offered £15k over asking and still missed out! The market is absolutely crazy right now.

The only reason I think we finally got accepted for one is because it wasn't on Rightmove so I don't think a lot of people had seen it. There wasn't that usual 'viewings are full' or 'I've only got one left' etc when we called to view, and when we offered we were only up against one person instead of god knows how many. Try looking on other sites, we found ours on Zoopla.

Another thing to note, as someone else has mentioned, when you get the house valued when you apply for your mortgage, it will likely be de-valued by quite a bit (since offers are going crazy high right now). So if you REALLY like a house, add 20k on or however much more you think, because when it's valued or has a survey it'll come down anyway!

Not necessarily true. Got mine 40k over asking (just below 300k) and the bank valued it at the price I offered.

Greenybluetowel · 19/04/2022 23:58

One. Was on with the same EA we were selling with. They had buyers who had offered 30k over asking but it fell through as they couldn't get a mortgage. We were the first to view when it came back on, offered 15k over asking and got it. In our preferred area and school catchment. We thought we would have to downsize to a 3 bed detached 1 reception in this area but as this needed work we got a 4 bed detached, 2 reception. Mortgage company valued at our offer.

This was last May so we were incredibly lucky!

NelliePig · 20/04/2022 06:12

First one we offered on, they had multiple offers, but we were the first time buyers :)

ImplementingTheDennisSystem · 20/04/2022 06:21

We offered on a few. 5 or so maybe.
Our problem was that, due to location, all of the homeowners we were offering to were retired and therefore didn't need to move. So they could hold out for absolute full asking, or for various conditions to be met.
4 years later, most of the homes we unsuccessfully offered on have never sold and were taken off of the market.
We eventually got lucky - someone's buyer fell through on the day of exchange and the seller was left in an empty house with all of her possessions boxed up. She was desperate to find a new buyer so finally we got an offer accepted!

beguilingeyes · 20/04/2022 16:44

I feel incredibly lucky. Our house went on the market last June, sold immediately and the sale fell through so it went back on the Market in September. I'd been keeping an eye open as we literally lived in the next road. It was the first house we viewed and our first offer.
We offered 15% over asking and we're accepted pretty much straight away. I think the vendor was in a hurry by then.